2009 Global Hunger Index
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2009 – – – GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX THE CHALLENGE OF HUNGER: FOCUS ON FINANCIAL CRISIS AND GENDER INEQUALITY – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 2009 GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX THE CHALLENGE OF HUNGER: FOCUS ON FINANCIAL CRISIS AND GENDER INEQUALITY Klaus von Grebmer, Bella Nestorova, Agnes Quisumbing, Rebecca Fertziger, Heidi Fritschel, Rajul Pandya-Lorch, Yisehac Yohannes Bonn, Washington D. C., Dublin October 2009 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – The silent hunger crisis – affecting one sixth of all of humanity – poses a serious risk for world peace and security. Jacques Diouf, Director of FAO, 2009 – – – FOREWORD The 2009 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report comes in a year in which the world is facing a series of crises – high and volatile food prices combined with financial crunch and economic recession. Unfortunate- ly, these events pose the greatest risks to poor and vulnerable house- holds, with often dire consequences for their food security. This is the fourth year that the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has calculated and analyzed this multi- dimensional measure of global hunger. This series of reports records the state of hunger worldwide and country by country, drawing atten- tion to the countries and regions where action is most needed. In this way, the reports support policy advice and advocacy work on both na- tional and international platforms. It is important to remember that this report offers a picture of the past, not the present. The calculation of the GHI is limited by the collection of data by various governments and international agen- cies. The 2009 GHI incorporates data only until 2007 – the most recent available. This GHI report therefore does not fully reflect the impact of recent increases in food and energy prices or the eco- nomic downturn. The report does, however, highlight the countries and regions facing the greatest risk in the current context. Twenty-nine countries have levels of hunger that are alarming or extremely alarming. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa continue to suffer from the highest lev- els of hunger, despite some progress since 1990. Many countries with high rates of hunger are also especially vulnerable to the consequences of the financial and economic crisis – a situation that puts the food security of poor people in these coun- tries at great risk. High rates of hunger also tend to go hand in hand with gender inequality in areas such as economic participation, educa- tion, political empowerment, and health. After decades of slow progress in combating global hunger, the number of malnourished people is now rising as a result of recent events. It is our hope that this report will not only generate discussion, but also stimulate action to overcome hunger, extreme vulnerability, and gender inequality worldwide. Dr. Wolfgang Jamann Prof. Joachim von Braun Tom Arnold Secretary General and Director General of the Chief Executive of Chairperson of Welthungerhilfe International Food Policy Concern Worldwide Research Institute 2009 Global Hunger Index | Foreword 3 CONTENTS SUMMARY 5 CHAPTER 01 The Concept of the Global Hunger Index 6 CHAPTER 02 Global and Regional Trends 10 CHAPTER 03 Financial Crisis Adding to the Vulnerabilities of the Hungry 16 CHAPTER 04 Gender Inequality and Hunger 20 CHAPTER 05 Women’s Role in Tackling Hunger 30 APPENDIX A Data Sources and Calculation of the 1990 and 2009 Global Hunger Indices 40 B Data Underlying the Calculation of the 1990 and 2009 Global Hunger Indices 41 C 2008 Gender Gap Index and Subindices 44 D Bibliography 48 E Partners 51 4 Contents | 2009 Global Hunger Index SUMMARY The Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows that worldwide progress in re- ducing hunger remains slow. The 2009 global GHI has fallen by only one quarter from the 1990 GHI. Southeast Asia, the Near East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean have reduced hun- ger significantly since 1990, but the GHI remains distressingly high in South Asia, which has made progress since 1990, and in Sub-Saha- ran Africa, where progress has been marginal. Some countries achieved noteworthy progress in improving their GHI. Between the 1990 GHI and the 2009 GHI, Kuwait, Tunisia, Fiji, Malaysia, and Turkey had the largest percentage improvements. Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nicaragua, and Vietnam saw the largest ab- solute improvements in their scores. Nonetheless, 29 countries have levels of hunger that are alarming or extremely alarming. The countries with the highest 2009 GHI scores are Burundi, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Er- itrea, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone. In most of the countries with high GHI scores, war and violent conflict have given rise to widespread pov- erty and food insecurity. Nearly all of the countries in which the GHI rose since 1990 are in Sub-Saharan Africa. The current food and financial crises, linked in complex ways, will both have implications for food security, financial and economic stability, and political security. The impacts will be greatest on the poor and hungry, and the countries with the highest levels of hunger are also among the most vulnerable to the global downturn. Although the poor and the hungry are in general hurt the most by the food and financial crises, the exact impacts at the household level differ widely. Policy responses to the food and financial crises must take these different impacts into account. Social protection strategies should be designed to mitigate the current shock for the most vulnerable, lay the foundation for sustainable recovery, and prevent negative impacts in the future. Nutrition interventions, such as school feeding programs and programs for early childhood and ma- ternal nutrition, should be strengthened and expanded to ensure uni- versal coverage. An important part of the solution to global hunger is reducing gender inequality. This report compares the 2009 GHI with the 2008 Global Gender Gap Index, which is made up of four subindices: eco- nomic participation, educational attainment, political empowerment, and health and survival. The evidence shows that higher levels of hun- ger are associated with lower literacy rates and access to education for women. High rates of hunger are also linked to health and survival in- equalities between men and women. Reducing gender disparities in key areas, particularly in education and health, is thus essential to re- duce levels of hunger. 2009 Global Hunger Index | Summary 5 01 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Progress was made in reducing chronic hunger in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. For the past decade hunger has been on the rise. – –6 Name des Teilbereich | Chapter 1 | Global Hunger Index 2009 THE CONCEPT OF THE GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX The Global Hunger Index (GHI) – a tool adapted and further developed The potential long-term effects of the food price crisis and recession by IFPRI for regularly describing the state of global hunger 1 – shows on poor women and children are of special concern. High and variable that although hunger varies dramatically by region, overall global food prices and lower incomes may prevent even more poor house- progress in reducing hunger remains slow. The 2009 global GHI holds from providing pregnant mothers and infants and young children has fallen by only one quarter from the 1990 GHI. Since 1990 South- with adequate nutrition. For infants and young children, even tempo- east Asia, the Near East and North Africa, and Latin America and rary undernutrition can have irreversible long-term consequences for the Caribbean have reduced hunger significantly. The GHI remains their future health, cognitive development, and productivity. distressingly high, however, in South Asia, which has made progress Accelerating progress against hunger and malnutrition requires since 1990, and in Sub-Saharan Africa, where progress has been steps to be taken to mitigate the effects of the food shortage and fi- marginal. nancial crisis and working to prevent such crises in the future. The GHI The GHI incorporates three hunger-related indicators (see fol- can contribute to effective responses by highlighting where people are lowing pages 8, 9 for information on how the GHI is calculated). This most vulnerable to hunger. year’s index reflects data from 2002 to 2007 – the most recent avail- 1 For background information on the concept, see Wiesmann (2004), and Wiesmann, von Braun, and Feld- able global data on the three GHI components – and thus does not yet brügge (2000). take account of the latest changes in hunger. For some countries suf- fering from severe hunger, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia, too little data are available to calculate the GHI. Most vulnerable affected worst It is clear, however, that the current situation of food crisis, financial crunch, and global recession has further undermined the food securi- ty and the livelihoods of the poor. The Food and Agricultural Organiza- tion of the United Nations (FAO) projects the number of under- nourished people in the developing world to have increased from 848 million to 1,020 million from 2003-05 to 2009, mainly because of the food crisis and the world economic recession (FAO 2008; FAO 2009). Since the food price hike in 2007–08, prices have been fall- ing, but in many countries they remain above their levels of a couple of years ago. Poor people are now exposed to additional stress stem- ming from the financial crisis as real wages and household incomes decline, jobs are lost, credit is cut, and remittances dwindle. The glo- bal recession has also increased uncertainty about the levels of future aid and funds for social protection, which are essential for avoiding hunger and starvation among the most vulnerable. 2009 Global Hunger Index | Chapter 01 | The Concept of the Global Hunger Index 7 WHAT IS THE GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX? 0 5 10 15 ≤ 4.9 5.0–9.9 10.0–19.9 low moderate serious The GHI is a multidimensional approach to measuring hunger.